Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life David Attenborough wrote and narrated this informative documentary
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02, 2017
8
02, 2017
The lily and the river
The lily and the river: how much do we presume about our knowledge of the future, and how firmly rooted is our knowledge of our origins? Two fables from Renaissance scientists and polymaths: The lily set itself on the bank of the river Ticino, and the current swept away both the bank and the lily. Leonardo da [...]
7
02, 2017
From Bethlehem to Bedlam: classifying the incurables through science (Amanda Ruggeri, BBC Culture)
From Bethlehem to Bedlam: classifying the incurables through science. What was founded as a place open to those in need became a palatial institution that housed those deemed mentally unsound. From the article: By the 17th Century, the asylum was well-known enough to appear in numerous Jacobean dramas and ballads. Often – as in Shakespeare’s plays [...]
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02, 2017
Historians and health care (Emily Michelson, Times Higher Education)
Historians and health care: how the humanities can heal, body and soul. From the article: From my particular hospital bed, it seemed increasingly, blindingly clear how much humanities and sciences – in this case history and medicine – truly complemented each other. As Gretchen Busl wrote last year, training in the humanities teaches us “the language necessary [...]
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01, 2017
The highest mode of life
The highest mode of life: a proposal from 2500 years ago, relevant today in all dimensions. If on the other hand I tell you that to let no day pass without discussing goodness [aretês] and all the other subjects about which you hear me talking and examining both myself and others is really the very [...]
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01, 2017
How language shapes the minds of infants (Helen Briggs, BBC)
How language shapes the minds of infants: our early listening, in our mother tongue, stays with us throughout our lives. More evidence on the fundamental power of language in our cultural development. From the article: ''Please remember that [the] language learning process occurs very early in life, and useful language knowledge is laid down in [...]
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01, 2017
Addressing or dismissing the anxieties of conscience
Addressing or dismissing the anxieties of conscience: is this the purview of medical science? Or of other therapy? In our time (this is truth, and it is significant for the Christianity of our time), in our time it is the physician who exercises the cure of souls. People have perhaps an unfounded dread of calling in [...]
9
01, 2017
What do the humanities have to say? And who should listen?
What do the humanities have to say? And who should listen? A note from Mary Beard, at year's end: They have just issued on the website a top 24 of Cambridge research stories this year. On my reckoning, 19 of those are pure science.... You’d think from looking at this roster that none of the work that [...]
7
01, 2017
The “third culture” integrating science and humanities
The "third culture" integrating science and humanities: employing a term developed by C.P. Snow and John Brockman, an Italian astronomer reflects on the creative way forward: Emotion therefore is common to science and art, humanistic and scientific culture. Emotion is conveyed through language. Emotion and language (be it literary, artistic or scientific) are the links [...]
4
01, 2017
Heralding the creative economy: Andrew Chitty leads the effort in the UK
Heralding the creative economy: Andrew Chitty leads the effort in the UK. The Arts and Humanities Research Council strengthens the fundamental ties between business and the humanities with its new Creative Economy Champion. From the press release: The main focus will be on enhancing and extending the AHRC’s reach in the creative economy, emphasising the importance [...]